Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation, joined the Alliance of Aeons. Topaz gained the authority of an Emanator of Preservation and swore allegiance to Su Mo.
In just a dozen minutes, events that were enough to shake the entire universe had transpired.
After calming her excited heart, Topaz fully absorbed the authority of an Emanator of Preservation. From then on, she no longer needed to rely on props like the Cornerstone and could exert Emanator-level combat power with her own will alone.
"Lord Su Mo, the events that have just transpired are of utmost importance. If you permit, please allow me to inform the IPC of this intelligence. This will not only allow us to receive the Amber Lord's reply but also avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."
After absorbing Su Mo's gift, Topaz immediately and respectfully requested permission.
Although she was still technically an employee of the Interastral Peace Corporation and had not officially become Su Mo's subordinate, her attitude already showed a well-measured distance from the IPC.
This was not ingratitude but a clear understanding of her own position. As the liaison between Su Mo and the Preservation faction, her primary task was to maintain Su Mo's trust.
Whether for the sake of her faction or to repay Su Mo's kindness, she should unconditionally stand on his side.
Even the IPC would be more than happy to see this situation. The more Topaz stood on Su Mo's side, the higher their status would be in his heart.
There was no helping it. The Aeon of the Hunt had already unconditionally sent an Emanator to serve as a guard and demanded that she maintain absolute loyalty to Su Mo. With the Xianzhou being so competitive, the IPC naturally had to keep up.
"Mm, go ahead," Su Mo nodded, naturally not stopping her.
"Yes!" Topaz bowed respectfully and immediately stood up.
Then she glanced at Aventurine, signaling him to leave with her. Their mission to meet him had been successfully completed, and not only that, but they had also received an unexpected surprise.
Besides communicating intelligence with the IPC, she also had a small, personal desire to show off in front of Lady Jade, another of the Ten Stonehearts.
This was not for the sake of showing off, but purely out of a child's desire to be praised. After all, in her heart, Jade, who had helped her many times, held a status akin to a mother.
However, to her surprise, Aventurine did not heed her suggestion to leave. Instead, he stood up and looked at Su Mo with some hesitation.
Huh? What's this?
Under Topaz's slightly puzzled gaze, Aventurine's expression changed from hesitation to determination. He placed a hand on his chest, bowed deeply, and paid his respects to Su Mo.
"Lord Su Mo, may I ask you a question?"
The sudden interlude caught everyone's attention. The IPC's mission had been successfully completed, what other questions could Aventurine have?
Only Topaz, after a moment's pause, immediately remembered her colleague's past. Although she didn't know what Aventurine wanted to ask, she silently stood her ground and did not urge him to leave.
Although they were only colleagues, she also hoped that this guy could get the answers he wanted from Su Mo.
"Speak," Su Mo nodded, agreeing to his request.
"Just now, in the Pantheon you displayed, I felt many auras that were quite similar to the deities of my home planet," Aventurine immediately said.
While everyone was still shocked by the phantoms of the double-digit gods in the core area, he had keenly sensed some other familiar auras.
Although those auras were not as strong as the mysterious gods in the core area, they felt incredibly familiar to him. As the last of the Avgins, he carried the blessing of the Three-Eyed Mother Goddess, and the auras of those phantoms were very similar to his memories of his home planet.
"What you felt should all be the auras of Mother Goddesses," Su Mo was not surprised by Aventurine's words.
When he had used the Pantheon earlier, Aventurine's reactions had all been taken in by him. "However, these Mother Goddesses are only similar in divinity to the Mother Goddess of your home planet; they are not the same being."
The Mother Goddesses who could enter Su Mo's Pantheon were at least in the triple-digits in terms of power, a scale that a native god of a single planet could not compare to. But in terms of the type of divinity, there was not much difference.
"Is that so..." Hearing this, Aventurine lowered his head slightly, but he was not too disappointed.
"With Lord Su Mo's wisdom and power, you must already have a deep understanding of these deities, at least far more than we mortals do."
"So, may I ask for your magnanimity to answer the doubts in my heart..."
As he spoke, Aventurine raised his head slightly, looking at Su Mo with an expression of both immense pain and confusion, as if recalling a memory.
"May I ask, is the luck that resides within me a blessing from the Mother Goddess, or... a curse?"
Winning every gamble was a special constitution that Aventurine possessed. The more dangerous and tense the gamble, the more this luck was stimulated.
As a former slave, he had relied on this luck to survive countless deadly situations, rising from a mere slave to the position of one of the Ten Stonehearts.
Described in such a way, countless people would probably want this luck. Even if they weren't gamblers, everyone would want to rely on this luck to live a good life.
However, for Aventurine himself, this luck had brought him endless pain. Because of his luck, he was able to survive the crisis of the Avgin genocide. But on the other hand, his luck had only brought him the loss of his family.
His parents, sisters, clansmen... all the family he held dear had said he was a gift from the Mother Goddess, but they had all left him.
This childhood experience had plunged Aventurine into a state of deep self-doubt, even leading him to have suicidal thoughts.
Before this, no one could answer the questions in his heart. Neither Jade, who had promoted him, nor Diamond, the Emanator of Preservation, were, in his view, qualified to answer this question.
But Su Mo was different. This being, who was not an Aeon but seemed to surpass them, possessed a power that could make all gods pay homage.
Aventurine didn't care about other deities. Besides the Preservation he now believed in, neither the Aeons nor the unknown gods who surpassed them were enough to attract his attention.
The only thing that could completely capture his attention was the Mother Goddess, whose aura was highly similar to that of his home planet. And from the vivid phantoms in the Pantheon, it was clear that Su Mo had completely mastered the power of those few Mother Goddesses.
It was for this reason that Aventurine had mustered the courage to ask Su Mo.
Unlike the awe of others, Aventurine's gaze towards Su Mo also carried a certain indescribable warmth and admiration, as if he saw Su Mo as a representative of the Mother Goddess that the Avgins believed in. Asking Su Mo was also asking the Mother Goddess that the Avgins believed in.
Oh, Mother Goddess! Is this luck you have bestowed upon me a blessing, or a curse?
Hearing Aventurine's inquiry, the members of the Express Crew were naturally clueless, but for Su Mo, who knew Aventurine's past, his meaning was very clear.
"Although you possess a boon, you don't seem to understand much about gods."
"What do you mean?" Aventurine showed a puzzled expression. "Could you be more specific?"
"For a god, a curse and a blessing are two sides of the same coin, with no difference. They are both special states imposed on a certain object," Su Mo gave an incredibly simple answer.
The so-called buffs and debuffs were conclusions drawn from a human perspective based on a cost-benefit analysis.
For the one bestowing the gift, there was no difference between the two.
Cursing a human into a pig and elevating a human to a divine beast, a wild boar, were, for life, the same process.
"Do you mean that it's meaningless to dwell on whether it's a curse or a blessing?" With Aventurine's intelligence, he quickly understood this point. However, this was not the answer he was hoping for.
Fortunately, Su Mo's answer was not that simple.
"No," he shook his head. "What I mean is, regardless of the god's purpose in bestowing the boon, whether it's a curse or a blessing depends on your own thoughts."
"..." Aventurine was silent for a moment. The problem had come back to the starting point. It was because he couldn't figure this out that he had turned to a god!
"You can't see your own heart, you find it difficult?" Just then, as if seeing through his thoughts, Su Mo spoke again.
"Getting an answer is actually very easy. I can erase the boon of a mere Mother Goddess with a wave of my hand."
"I'll give you ten seconds to consider. If you don't refuse, I will completely remove the divine boon from you, and you will no longer have to bear this question."
Su Mo's meaning was simple. If Aventurine saw it as a curse, he would surely not refuse to lose the boon. If he saw it as a blessing, he would surely refuse to lose it.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..." Little March obediently began to count on her fingers.
Each sound was a urging in Aventurine's heart. Did he see this boon as a blessing or a curse?
"Three, two..." Soon, the countdown reached the last three seconds.
Cold sweat dripped from Aventurine's forehead, and he still couldn't make a decision.
Until just before March 7th called out the last number, instinct made the judgment for Aventurine. He immediately shouted out, extremely nervous and urgent, "No! I don't want to... I can't lose this boon!"
His mind was blank, his face pale. Aventurine himself didn't know what he was saying. But his previously muddled thoughts became instinctively clear at this moment.
His body and arms trembled slightly, but his voice was more determined than before. Yes, he didn't want to lose this boon. Not because he coveted this luck, nor because he coveted his current position.
But because...
"This is the last thing my family left me... I absolutely cannot lose it, whether it is a blessing or a curse!"
After saying this firmly, Aventurine's mind suddenly became clear. As if drained of strength, he slumped back into his chair, but his eyes were filled with reverence and gratitude as he looked at Su Mo. "Thank you! Lord Su Mo! Thank you for your help!"
Hearing this, March 7th scratched her head, not understanding what Su Mo had helped with.
Ignoring everyone's reactions, Aventurine, having regained his strength, continued, "I have resolved my confusion. When I was hesitating, the answer was already very clear."
"No one would be reluctant to part with a pure curse. Whatever the Mother Goddess meant, for me, this luck is a blessing."
"No! I should say, the Mother Goddess's gift back then must have been a blessing! SHE is the Mother Goddess that we Avgins believe in, and like my family, SHE is a precious gift from my homeland."
"From the very beginning, I should not have doubted the Mother Goddess's intentions. It is SHE who has accompanied me to this day."
After speaking, Aventurine stood up again and bowed deeply to Su Mo once more. "Thank you, Lord Su Mo, for clearing my confusion. I will no longer be lost!"
The knot in his heart, which in the original story might have taken a death to untie, was now completely released by Su Mo. It had to be said that the help Su Mo had given him at this moment seemed more like that of a god than Qlipoth.
Even Stelle and March 7th, although they didn't understand, showed expressions of awe and sat obediently in their seats without causing any trouble.
"There's no need for formalities. I do occasionally moonlight as a god," Su Mo waved his hand nonchalantly.
No longer lost, Aventurine bowed again before following Topaz out the door.